Rev. Ruth L. Lovell
Given at Westminster Presbyterian Church
July 15, 2007
Luke 10:25-37 (The Good Samaritan)
Just How Far Are We Willing to Go?
Whether you associate it with BBQ, the Blues or even Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee is one of those places that visitors and tourism guidebooks alike tend to abridge into one word. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world. I’ve lived in a couple of large southern cities, including Atlanta. But, Memphis- yet another great city on the Mighty Mississippi like St. Louis, will always be synonymous for me with “home.”
I moved up the river from Memphis and down the street from Westminster to the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis just shy of two months ago. There are a number of things that I noticed immediately about St. Louis that I love.
The Zoo and many of the Art Galleries are free!
While Southern Hospitality is well known, the Mid-Western hospitality I’ve experienced is equally widespread and welcoming.
The summer temperatures have been comparatively comfortable in St. Louis so far. I’m still grateful for air-conditioning, of course, but Friday night I was down near the river watching the weekly weekend fireworks and I almost wished I had a sweater. In July!? Unbelievable! It may got hot in Hot-lanta and humid here, but Memphis has the almost intolerable combination of both heat and humidity that I don’t miss one bit!
There’s another thing I’ve noticed since I’ve moved here, too, that I’d like to be candid about with you as a community of faith. As hard as Memphians of all races have tried to overcome the legacy of segregation and racism our city earned in the mid-twentieth century, Memphis is still a very racially tense city. The echoes from the civil rights marches, movement and riots of my parent’s young adulthood still reverberate off the river bluffs from time to time. I’m not proud of the tension she holds--- no one who lives there is---- and things have noticeably changed a lot for the better even within my lifetime, but more often than not there is a palpable tension in the air. It affects everything from school board meetings to blatantly corrupt, local politicians to property values and healthcare—namely, despite having an internationally known medical community, who gets care and who doesn’t.
There is a tension just below the surface of daily life between the haves and the have-nots, and often between the minority ethnic groups and the majority ethnic group, which I should note flip flop depending on whether you’re in the city proper or the larger Metropolitan area.
But, St. Louis seems somehow different.
Again, I’ve only been here a few weeks and if I’m wrong I hope you’ll help me understand, but despite being a Mid-Western city--- despite being so much larger than Memphis. --- despite being historically hands-off during the race riots of the 1960’s….. Where the differences between people are out there and in your face in Memphis, Atlanta and many other cities I’ve traveled to and lived…. Here, instead, while there are clearly culturally based communities and neighborhoods everyone is so dad-gum polite it’s hard to tell what’s really going on… what people are really thinking.
I commend you, Westminster Presbyterian Church, for being so intentionally multi-cultural.After all, as we all know, mid-morning on Sunday is usually the most segregated part of any given week in the United States.
Here’s what concerns me, though. I’m not saying that tension is a good thing, but honest conversations about what’s really going on in the day to day busyness of life around us are. I haven’t seen much evidence of conversation good or bad concerning diversity and equality here. In fact, aside from an article about School Desegregation on the front page of this week’s West End Word newspaper, I’ve heard very little about diversity- good or bad-- in this community named out loud.
So, as much as it saddens me to call a place “home” that isn’t always a place of neighborliness and love, at least most Memphians tend to wear their true feelings on their heart sleeves. You can often tell quickly whether someone likes you or not--- even if it is for a reason as superficial as the color of your skin or the zip code on your driver’s license--- and you face it.
But, here--- and I think St. Louis is a microcosm of most of the Western world in this aspect---- there’s this don’t ask, don’t tell, laissez-faire, pretend really hard to get along with everyone attitude that feels so strange to me. “Who is your neighbor?” Why, everyone, of course, but don’t ask me to tell you her name, or what he’s passionate about, or where they’re from….. those people and their life is none of my business.
Really? (Asked with a tone of disbelief.)
While the Gospels only record a relatively small time frame of Jesus’ life on earth, I think it’s probably pretty safe to say that Jesus never said: “Those people are none of my business.” I could be wrong, but…. “none of my business” and “love your neighbor” seem awfully incompatible to me.
Memphis has her unofficial segregation and strife.
St. Louis has her silence.
You see, and I think this was a key part of Jesus’ message in today’s parable, friends, the opposite of loving your neighbors isn’t hating them.
A well-meaning, traditional “bless her heart”, if you’re from the deep South, or perhaps a soft-spoken “I don’t want to bother anyone”, if you’re from the Mid-West, are both just Good old-fashioned ways of spelling something we don’t want to admit we participate in daily:
A-P-A-T-H-Y.
You see, the opposite of love isn’t hate…. The opposite of love, which our friendly neighborhood Levite and Priest reminded us of concretely in today’s text, is apathy.
In other words, our apathy clearly speaks louder than any words: “I don’t care enough about you,” apathy seems to say “to care about you enough.”
One of the things I’ve experienced in my life often enough to adopt as truth is that there is no such thing as a coincidence. So, for instance, while some historians may claim that it was happenstance that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his last speech in a church, the Mason Temple in Memphis, TN, rather than a secular venue, I think it was always in God’s hands.
Some may find it chance that a man whose life developed into one centered on the Civil Rights movement, crusades against poverty, helping one’s fellow man and equality gave his last speech, his last sermon, on of all scriptures Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Again, I don’t believe in coincidences.
This speech was given the night of April 3, 1968 and Dr. King was murdered around dinner time the next day. Still some may say that the very last line of his last public speech, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” was simply an ironic twist of fate. I don’t think so…… It all sounds like providence, God’s handiwork, to me.
So, what did God have to say about the Good Samaritan through Dr. King’s sermon that stormy night in Memphis? Through what is now known as his “Mountaintop” speech, Dr. King walked the congregation of over 2,000, most of whom were Sanitation Workers on strike, that night through all kinds of scenarios concerning perfectly good reasons why the Priest and Levite might not have stopped to help the robbery victim on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
We’ve thought of these, too…. After all, we are all experts these days at rationalizing what we will or won’t do…. so imposing that mentality on these important religious leaders isn’t too much of a leap for us.
Perhaps they were late to a meeting, Dr. King surmised. Perhaps they thought it would be better to help the root of the problems that led to this man being robbed in the first place from a systemic perspective rather than just focusing on one individual? Perhaps they were concerned about their own safety on this steep, curvy, dangerous road.
Who knows? Why they didn’t help isn’t at the heart of Christ’s story. The point is that the Samaritan, a man Jesus described as being from “another race” deliberately, did stop. The man from Samaria helped. He did what he could with what he had and he made a difference.
Or, as Dr. King suggested in his sermon: The Samaritan asked the right question.
Rather than “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” Dr. King imagines with the congregation that late night in April 1968, in the middle of the sanitation worker’s strike and what would prove to be very real death threats on his life and those around him, that the Samaritan must have instead altruistically wondered: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
Just how far are we willing to go? Just how selflessly are we willing to engage in the dialogues of the day? Not as residents of St. Louis or Memphis or even as Americans, but as Christians- as the body of Christ-- just how boldly are we willing to push even the comfort levels of the questions we dare ask?
In this world of information overload…cell phones that cost more than two weeks worth of work at minimum wage that enable us to have the Internet in our pockets and… modern technology that daily attempts to convince us--- not unlike the serpent tempted Adam and Eve--- that God’s world is a little bit smaller than we thought and therefore somehow more manageable and within our control….. In this world of pretending to be “in the know” 24/7 are we willing to accept the fact that maybe we just don’t get it--- at least not yet?
Even in the church we think we know everything…. We think we’ve learned it all…. Many of us think that even Christian education and preaching are just friendly mini-refresher courses, because we’ve heard it all before. Love God. Go to church. Tithe. Pray. Read the Bible. Play well with others.
That I-know-everything-already attitude is what Jesus was talking about when he shared this story with the well-educated lawyer in the first place. Jesus wants to make sure we realize that we’re missing an essential message of the Gospel. Whether it’s about the power of mustard seed faith or being a precious lost sheep God values and adores, the parables Jesus shares educate us. They shine light on facets of God’s grace we had not yet seen before. The parables, parallels to God if you will, enable the Word of God to come to life so that we too might more clearly understand the power of God’s Kingdom.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Today.
What a radical concept: To live as though the kingdom of God is here now.
So, it’s not surprising to me that in today’s scripture there is a kaleidoscope full of lessons for us to catch a glimpse of--- and like all scripture lessons--- through the power of the Holy Spirit every time we hear this story there’s a huge possibility that we’ll see or hear or experience something like never before.
So, despite how many times you’ve heard this parable before….Let us consider what informs us as we hear this text on the 15th day of July in the year of our Lord 2007:
Our nation is at war.
Last night in our own neighborhoods children went to bed hungry.
Like the Lepers Jesus healed, even as faithful as we believe we are, 90% of the time or more- we too forget to say “thank you.”
I feel confident in claiming that more children in America today know the words to the OREO cookie theme song than “Jesus Loves Me.”
Racial tensions in neighborhoods, schools, community swimming pools, restaurants, the mall, the workplace and politics are real and much more complicated than simply black and white.
In the name of God, right wing Christian fundamentalists are drawing lines about who is “in” and who is “outside” of the protection of God’s grace.
An African American and a woman are running for President of the United States, yet the fact that both Obama and Clinton are more commonly known for these physical characteristics than their characters or platforms is still somehow socially acceptable.
It is not uncommon for eleven and twelve year olds to be sexually active.
Our nation, founded on the principles of freedom and equality, is spending millions of dollars to build a wall to keep people out rather than on improving the education and healthcare available to the children who are already within her borders.
Friends, the opposite of love isn’t hate. The opposite of love is apathy.
So, what would happen if we took seriously Jesus’ claims that the Kingdom of God is here… NOW…. ? “Go and do likewise.”
Not someday.
Not when it’s comfortable.
Not when we’re crystal clear about what it is that we’re supposed to be doing.
Not when it’s safe.
Not when it’s familiar.
Not when the building renovations are completed.
Not when we feel like it.
Christ said, “Go and do likewise.”
The Son of God didn’t pronounce “go and do for them.”
The Light of the World didn’t declare, “go be nice to nice people.”
The Carpenter’s Son didn’t say, “just be extra friendly to people who are different from you so you don’t accidentally hurt someone’s feelings or come across as insensitive or racist or homophobic or snobby or prejudice.”
The Rabbi didn’t even advise that we should, “take time to do a visionary study within decent and ordered committees concerning to whom our neighborly good will might be most beneficial.”
Our friend Jesus simply answered the young lawyers question through a memorable, timelessly applicable story. And, then, to make sure listeners for generations fully understood the message he summarized it once more: “Go and do.”
Wherever, whenever, for whomever God calls you to be in relationship with… just “Go and do.” In fact, he said: “Do this and you will live.”
Like the young lawyer who stood up and open-mindedly asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” we all surely recognize the rote Sunday School answer the lawyer gives. “Love the Lord your God…and your neighbor as yourself.” Unlike the young lawyer, who is blatantly testing Jesus, however, few of us intentionally annoy God by asking seemingly dumb questions like: “And who is my neighbor?”
Either alongside children or grandchildren, or for some of us as children ourselves, we’ve watched Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer…. We know who are neighbors are as intimately as we can sing our ABC’s. Don’t we?
Or, instead, are we perhaps even less spiritually mature than the young lawyer for it doesn’t even occur to us that we should ask God for this clarification.
As beloved children of God who affirm as a part of our faith the essential belief that everyone is a child of God just like us, that Jesus lived, died and rose again for our salvation, perhaps the question for us shouldn’t be “who is our neighbor?” but instead a rhetorical, “Well, who isn’t?” And perhaps the question shouldn’t be a fearful “just how far are we willing to go to embody the love of Christ to neighbors?” but instead an amazed, “How far will the love of Christ carry us as we go and do today?”
My prayer for us today is that we may see that perhaps we don’t know everything. We are human after all and that’s been one of humanity’s problems since time began in the Garden, sometimes we just need reminders that God knows so much more than we can ever imagine.
God knows when the wars are going to cease…. And they will.
God knows when our dependence on foreign oil and non-essential material goods and non-biodegradable plastics will end… And it will.
God knows when all children will know unconditional love…. And they will.
God knows when the homeless and poor will experience a liberation akin to sleeping in a suite at the Chase Park Plaza and being able to order freely from the menu at J. Buck’s or The Melting Pot….And someday, just as the lamb will lie down with the lion, they will.
God knows when all of humanity will interact with others by the content of our character and not the color of our skin…. And, with God’s help, someday we will.
Jesus called a community of equals--- nationality, gender, physical health, financial status, skin color, age, religion of origin, martial status, length of residency and chosen profession aside. God intends for the Kingdom of God to be a reflection of divinely inspired diversity and equality---- And it is.
My prayer for Westminster, as you “Go and Do” out in God’s world, is that your church family will continue to fulfill the calling God has put on your hearts… God has called you to the corner of Delmar and Union Ave. in the heart of Saint Louis, MO. I pray that with God’s help and through one loving relationship at a time, someday you too, like the Good Samaritan in today’s story, will be recognizable to neighbors far and near by sacred, brief, descriptive phrases:
Saint Louis’ loving home.
A place with Open Doors.
The House of Holy Jazz.
Who knows, perhaps your community of faith, as you listen to God’s call, may in time even become known as “Graceland” herself?
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…. Alleluia. Amen.
Given at Westminster Presbyterian Church
July 15, 2007
Luke 10:25-37 (The Good Samaritan)
Just How Far Are We Willing to Go?
Whether you associate it with BBQ, the Blues or even Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee is one of those places that visitors and tourism guidebooks alike tend to abridge into one word. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world. I’ve lived in a couple of large southern cities, including Atlanta. But, Memphis- yet another great city on the Mighty Mississippi like St. Louis, will always be synonymous for me with “home.”
I moved up the river from Memphis and down the street from Westminster to the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis just shy of two months ago. There are a number of things that I noticed immediately about St. Louis that I love.
The Zoo and many of the Art Galleries are free!
While Southern Hospitality is well known, the Mid-Western hospitality I’ve experienced is equally widespread and welcoming.
The summer temperatures have been comparatively comfortable in St. Louis so far. I’m still grateful for air-conditioning, of course, but Friday night I was down near the river watching the weekly weekend fireworks and I almost wished I had a sweater. In July!? Unbelievable! It may got hot in Hot-lanta and humid here, but Memphis has the almost intolerable combination of both heat and humidity that I don’t miss one bit!
There’s another thing I’ve noticed since I’ve moved here, too, that I’d like to be candid about with you as a community of faith. As hard as Memphians of all races have tried to overcome the legacy of segregation and racism our city earned in the mid-twentieth century, Memphis is still a very racially tense city. The echoes from the civil rights marches, movement and riots of my parent’s young adulthood still reverberate off the river bluffs from time to time. I’m not proud of the tension she holds--- no one who lives there is---- and things have noticeably changed a lot for the better even within my lifetime, but more often than not there is a palpable tension in the air. It affects everything from school board meetings to blatantly corrupt, local politicians to property values and healthcare—namely, despite having an internationally known medical community, who gets care and who doesn’t.
There is a tension just below the surface of daily life between the haves and the have-nots, and often between the minority ethnic groups and the majority ethnic group, which I should note flip flop depending on whether you’re in the city proper or the larger Metropolitan area.
But, St. Louis seems somehow different.
Again, I’ve only been here a few weeks and if I’m wrong I hope you’ll help me understand, but despite being a Mid-Western city--- despite being so much larger than Memphis. --- despite being historically hands-off during the race riots of the 1960’s….. Where the differences between people are out there and in your face in Memphis, Atlanta and many other cities I’ve traveled to and lived…. Here, instead, while there are clearly culturally based communities and neighborhoods everyone is so dad-gum polite it’s hard to tell what’s really going on… what people are really thinking.
I commend you, Westminster Presbyterian Church, for being so intentionally multi-cultural.After all, as we all know, mid-morning on Sunday is usually the most segregated part of any given week in the United States.
Here’s what concerns me, though. I’m not saying that tension is a good thing, but honest conversations about what’s really going on in the day to day busyness of life around us are. I haven’t seen much evidence of conversation good or bad concerning diversity and equality here. In fact, aside from an article about School Desegregation on the front page of this week’s West End Word newspaper, I’ve heard very little about diversity- good or bad-- in this community named out loud.
So, as much as it saddens me to call a place “home” that isn’t always a place of neighborliness and love, at least most Memphians tend to wear their true feelings on their heart sleeves. You can often tell quickly whether someone likes you or not--- even if it is for a reason as superficial as the color of your skin or the zip code on your driver’s license--- and you face it.
But, here--- and I think St. Louis is a microcosm of most of the Western world in this aspect---- there’s this don’t ask, don’t tell, laissez-faire, pretend really hard to get along with everyone attitude that feels so strange to me. “Who is your neighbor?” Why, everyone, of course, but don’t ask me to tell you her name, or what he’s passionate about, or where they’re from….. those people and their life is none of my business.
Really? (Asked with a tone of disbelief.)
While the Gospels only record a relatively small time frame of Jesus’ life on earth, I think it’s probably pretty safe to say that Jesus never said: “Those people are none of my business.” I could be wrong, but…. “none of my business” and “love your neighbor” seem awfully incompatible to me.
Memphis has her unofficial segregation and strife.
St. Louis has her silence.
You see, and I think this was a key part of Jesus’ message in today’s parable, friends, the opposite of loving your neighbors isn’t hating them.
A well-meaning, traditional “bless her heart”, if you’re from the deep South, or perhaps a soft-spoken “I don’t want to bother anyone”, if you’re from the Mid-West, are both just Good old-fashioned ways of spelling something we don’t want to admit we participate in daily:
A-P-A-T-H-Y.
You see, the opposite of love isn’t hate…. The opposite of love, which our friendly neighborhood Levite and Priest reminded us of concretely in today’s text, is apathy.
In other words, our apathy clearly speaks louder than any words: “I don’t care enough about you,” apathy seems to say “to care about you enough.”
One of the things I’ve experienced in my life often enough to adopt as truth is that there is no such thing as a coincidence. So, for instance, while some historians may claim that it was happenstance that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his last speech in a church, the Mason Temple in Memphis, TN, rather than a secular venue, I think it was always in God’s hands.
Some may find it chance that a man whose life developed into one centered on the Civil Rights movement, crusades against poverty, helping one’s fellow man and equality gave his last speech, his last sermon, on of all scriptures Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Again, I don’t believe in coincidences.
This speech was given the night of April 3, 1968 and Dr. King was murdered around dinner time the next day. Still some may say that the very last line of his last public speech, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” was simply an ironic twist of fate. I don’t think so…… It all sounds like providence, God’s handiwork, to me.
So, what did God have to say about the Good Samaritan through Dr. King’s sermon that stormy night in Memphis? Through what is now known as his “Mountaintop” speech, Dr. King walked the congregation of over 2,000, most of whom were Sanitation Workers on strike, that night through all kinds of scenarios concerning perfectly good reasons why the Priest and Levite might not have stopped to help the robbery victim on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
We’ve thought of these, too…. After all, we are all experts these days at rationalizing what we will or won’t do…. so imposing that mentality on these important religious leaders isn’t too much of a leap for us.
Perhaps they were late to a meeting, Dr. King surmised. Perhaps they thought it would be better to help the root of the problems that led to this man being robbed in the first place from a systemic perspective rather than just focusing on one individual? Perhaps they were concerned about their own safety on this steep, curvy, dangerous road.
Who knows? Why they didn’t help isn’t at the heart of Christ’s story. The point is that the Samaritan, a man Jesus described as being from “another race” deliberately, did stop. The man from Samaria helped. He did what he could with what he had and he made a difference.
Or, as Dr. King suggested in his sermon: The Samaritan asked the right question.
Rather than “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” Dr. King imagines with the congregation that late night in April 1968, in the middle of the sanitation worker’s strike and what would prove to be very real death threats on his life and those around him, that the Samaritan must have instead altruistically wondered: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
Just how far are we willing to go? Just how selflessly are we willing to engage in the dialogues of the day? Not as residents of St. Louis or Memphis or even as Americans, but as Christians- as the body of Christ-- just how boldly are we willing to push even the comfort levels of the questions we dare ask?
In this world of information overload…cell phones that cost more than two weeks worth of work at minimum wage that enable us to have the Internet in our pockets and… modern technology that daily attempts to convince us--- not unlike the serpent tempted Adam and Eve--- that God’s world is a little bit smaller than we thought and therefore somehow more manageable and within our control….. In this world of pretending to be “in the know” 24/7 are we willing to accept the fact that maybe we just don’t get it--- at least not yet?
Even in the church we think we know everything…. We think we’ve learned it all…. Many of us think that even Christian education and preaching are just friendly mini-refresher courses, because we’ve heard it all before. Love God. Go to church. Tithe. Pray. Read the Bible. Play well with others.
That I-know-everything-already attitude is what Jesus was talking about when he shared this story with the well-educated lawyer in the first place. Jesus wants to make sure we realize that we’re missing an essential message of the Gospel. Whether it’s about the power of mustard seed faith or being a precious lost sheep God values and adores, the parables Jesus shares educate us. They shine light on facets of God’s grace we had not yet seen before. The parables, parallels to God if you will, enable the Word of God to come to life so that we too might more clearly understand the power of God’s Kingdom.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Today.
What a radical concept: To live as though the kingdom of God is here now.
So, it’s not surprising to me that in today’s scripture there is a kaleidoscope full of lessons for us to catch a glimpse of--- and like all scripture lessons--- through the power of the Holy Spirit every time we hear this story there’s a huge possibility that we’ll see or hear or experience something like never before.
So, despite how many times you’ve heard this parable before….Let us consider what informs us as we hear this text on the 15th day of July in the year of our Lord 2007:
Our nation is at war.
Last night in our own neighborhoods children went to bed hungry.
Like the Lepers Jesus healed, even as faithful as we believe we are, 90% of the time or more- we too forget to say “thank you.”
I feel confident in claiming that more children in America today know the words to the OREO cookie theme song than “Jesus Loves Me.”
Racial tensions in neighborhoods, schools, community swimming pools, restaurants, the mall, the workplace and politics are real and much more complicated than simply black and white.
In the name of God, right wing Christian fundamentalists are drawing lines about who is “in” and who is “outside” of the protection of God’s grace.
An African American and a woman are running for President of the United States, yet the fact that both Obama and Clinton are more commonly known for these physical characteristics than their characters or platforms is still somehow socially acceptable.
It is not uncommon for eleven and twelve year olds to be sexually active.
Our nation, founded on the principles of freedom and equality, is spending millions of dollars to build a wall to keep people out rather than on improving the education and healthcare available to the children who are already within her borders.
Friends, the opposite of love isn’t hate. The opposite of love is apathy.
So, what would happen if we took seriously Jesus’ claims that the Kingdom of God is here… NOW…. ? “Go and do likewise.”
Not someday.
Not when it’s comfortable.
Not when we’re crystal clear about what it is that we’re supposed to be doing.
Not when it’s safe.
Not when it’s familiar.
Not when the building renovations are completed.
Not when we feel like it.
Christ said, “Go and do likewise.”
The Son of God didn’t pronounce “go and do for them.”
The Light of the World didn’t declare, “go be nice to nice people.”
The Carpenter’s Son didn’t say, “just be extra friendly to people who are different from you so you don’t accidentally hurt someone’s feelings or come across as insensitive or racist or homophobic or snobby or prejudice.”
The Rabbi didn’t even advise that we should, “take time to do a visionary study within decent and ordered committees concerning to whom our neighborly good will might be most beneficial.”
Our friend Jesus simply answered the young lawyers question through a memorable, timelessly applicable story. And, then, to make sure listeners for generations fully understood the message he summarized it once more: “Go and do.”
Wherever, whenever, for whomever God calls you to be in relationship with… just “Go and do.” In fact, he said: “Do this and you will live.”
Like the young lawyer who stood up and open-mindedly asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” we all surely recognize the rote Sunday School answer the lawyer gives. “Love the Lord your God…and your neighbor as yourself.” Unlike the young lawyer, who is blatantly testing Jesus, however, few of us intentionally annoy God by asking seemingly dumb questions like: “And who is my neighbor?”
Either alongside children or grandchildren, or for some of us as children ourselves, we’ve watched Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer…. We know who are neighbors are as intimately as we can sing our ABC’s. Don’t we?
Or, instead, are we perhaps even less spiritually mature than the young lawyer for it doesn’t even occur to us that we should ask God for this clarification.
As beloved children of God who affirm as a part of our faith the essential belief that everyone is a child of God just like us, that Jesus lived, died and rose again for our salvation, perhaps the question for us shouldn’t be “who is our neighbor?” but instead a rhetorical, “Well, who isn’t?” And perhaps the question shouldn’t be a fearful “just how far are we willing to go to embody the love of Christ to neighbors?” but instead an amazed, “How far will the love of Christ carry us as we go and do today?”
My prayer for us today is that we may see that perhaps we don’t know everything. We are human after all and that’s been one of humanity’s problems since time began in the Garden, sometimes we just need reminders that God knows so much more than we can ever imagine.
God knows when the wars are going to cease…. And they will.
God knows when our dependence on foreign oil and non-essential material goods and non-biodegradable plastics will end… And it will.
God knows when all children will know unconditional love…. And they will.
God knows when the homeless and poor will experience a liberation akin to sleeping in a suite at the Chase Park Plaza and being able to order freely from the menu at J. Buck’s or The Melting Pot….And someday, just as the lamb will lie down with the lion, they will.
God knows when all of humanity will interact with others by the content of our character and not the color of our skin…. And, with God’s help, someday we will.
Jesus called a community of equals--- nationality, gender, physical health, financial status, skin color, age, religion of origin, martial status, length of residency and chosen profession aside. God intends for the Kingdom of God to be a reflection of divinely inspired diversity and equality---- And it is.
My prayer for Westminster, as you “Go and Do” out in God’s world, is that your church family will continue to fulfill the calling God has put on your hearts… God has called you to the corner of Delmar and Union Ave. in the heart of Saint Louis, MO. I pray that with God’s help and through one loving relationship at a time, someday you too, like the Good Samaritan in today’s story, will be recognizable to neighbors far and near by sacred, brief, descriptive phrases:
Saint Louis’ loving home.
A place with Open Doors.
The House of Holy Jazz.
Who knows, perhaps your community of faith, as you listen to God’s call, may in time even become known as “Graceland” herself?
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…. Alleluia. Amen.
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